It’s been a while. If you read my blog, The Yellow Dress, it may have touched your heart. You may have also suffered a loss that shifted your whole being for a time. If so, I empathize.

Writing has always helped me through a hard time. If I wrote about it, the words seemed to steal away some of the sting. But grief-stricken words couldn’t remove the pain of losing my sister. It took time to change the nature of the pain enough to move on.

I was in the middle of writing the third book in the Knoll Cottage trilogy when my sister died. Now, over a year later, I wanted to go back to writing Dear Bella, but when I began to work on it, it was clear I wasn’t quite ready. Instead, my wonderful critique partner and some great friends worked with me to revise and update a book I had written earlier, A Marriage to Die For.

I am going to publish that book in about two weeks. I am going to offer it as a free eBook on Amazon for a period of time. It’s a story that is all over the news today. My book is about a battered wife who plans to escape from her husband. He, though, is a DEA special agent with exceptional recourses at hand to find her.

It’s difficult to understand why it’s so hard for someone to escape a situation of abuse. It’s counterintuitive, why not just go? Get a restraining order, pack up, and leave. But there are emotional reasons, love may still exist, certainly fear, there could be financial issues, or children involved.

How hard would it be to walk away from every single aspect of your life right now? What if your very life depended on it?

I’ll send out a quick blog when the eBook is available. I love writing those words. I’m back!

It’s been a while since I put on my blogging cap. I’m back, having packed and unpacked a gazillion boxes, taken a million trips to donate stuff, and having finally found everything we packed . . . somewhere.
Yet, with all the commotion, I was able to progress with self-publishing my next book in the Knoll Cottage Series, Silent Grace. It should pop up on Amazon shortly.
Suddenly, I have time to relax and get back to a normal schedule. Do writers have a normal schedule?
I wanted to get back to you on my And the Agent Said: blog. While I waited to hear from her, I was actually feeling two ways about having an agent. I’ve been to panels of authors, agents, publishers, and they all have good points. Some traditionally published authors (which an agent would lead to) felt pressured. A book a year. Deadlines. Alterations in the story. I once attended a debut book signing by a mystery writer. She was traditionally published after years of trying with the same book. Her contract included seven more mysteries as a series to follow the original book. She told us this with deer-in-the-headlight eyes.
In the time I’ve waited for a response from the agent I met with at the writer’s conference I attended, I gave some good thought to which manner of publishing I’d prefer. The answer for me was: Being able to work at my own pace; being able to write in different genres; receiving a greater portion of the book royalties; hiring my own peeps to work on the book, was self-publishing. The caveat: One Must Market! But one must market even with a traditional publisher.
In spite of the fact that I met with the agent at a conference, which in the past meant a reply of some sort, I never received an answer on the two queries she requested. The agency’s website clearly said if you don’t hear in thirty days, there is no interest in representing your work.
Querying agents is hard. A negative answer, or no answer, is rejection. But a rejection doesn’t mean the book isn’t great. The agent’s choice is a subjective one.
After much thought, I am happy being an indie publisher. My book bravely heads to Amazon with a zillion other new books. The difference will be Marketing!
I’ll start here. If you go onto my website: http://www.gerrileclerc.com and sign up for my email list, you’ll be notified when I do give-aways of either Missing Emily or Silent Grace. They are two women’s fiction novels that stand alone, but are part of a trilogy. In about three or four days, check them out on Amazon, and read the great reviews!

Last week I attended a terrific writer’s conference put on by the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. If you write women’s fiction, you need to be a member of this great organization. The classes were fun and informative. The networking with new friends was enjoyable and educational. I took the opportunity to pitch an agent.
No matter how often I pitch an agent, I get sweaty palms. I told myself I am self-published with great reviews. I am about to publish the second book in my Knoll Cottage series. So, I had no reason—being the mature, accomplished woman that I am—to be nervous. And why pitch an agent at this point?
I wanted to chat about the new world of publishing. I came armed with a paperback copy of Missing Emily, book one in the series; comments from my editor; a synopsis of Silent Grace.
The young agent from Trident Media Group, L.L.C. was very professional and took notes. I told her I am self-published and I have done all the hard things right, based on the reviews and comments from readers. She asked me about sales. I said they aren’t good, which is why I am nervously sitting in from of her. I need guidance! All of the information I’ve read about marketing, driving sales, email lists haven’t helped me. And I wondered if, in this new world of publishing, I could still have an agent represent me.
And the literary agent said: Yes! She said having a published book would not stop an agent from representing the author.
I told her the stories of both Missing Emily and Silent Grace. She asked me questions, and I answered. I accomplished none of this with grace because my throat was a little tight. In the end, she asked me to query her on both novels. I offered her the paperback of Missing Emily and the literary agent said: Yes.
In truth, I’ve never pitched an agent at a conference who didn’t ask for more material. Even on my very first book. But the space between the query sending and rejection sending is a warm and hopeful place. I will let you know what happens!

So you’ve written nearly 100,000 words. You’ve revised the manuscript 100 times. You’ve had 20 people read for you, then you revised it 50 more times. It’s perfect! It’s ready!
All you have to do is write down the 100,000 words to about 250 or less and slap it on the back of your book.
I struggled for hours yesterday and came up with a bunch of words that convinced me no one would ever read Silent Grace. Yuck!
Thank God for the internet! Today, I visited two websites: http://www.blurb.com, (who knew blurb would have its own website!) and http://www.digitalbookworld.com. Thank you to all the folks who bring writers such terrific information on the web. I highly recommend both of these sites if you’re struggling with your own blurb. No charge, just have at it and go back to work. I did. I rewrote the blurb based on the data I mined from the two sites. I am so much happier and confident it will intrigue readers.
Next, I send it off to my trusted and capable critique partner. If she likes it, it’s a go. And Silent Grace is one step closer to publication.

It has been a little over three months since I self-published my novel, Missing Emily. Some musings on how I feel now.

Every resume I put in for my many nursing positions–as my husband’s career involved frequent moves–contained the words “detailed oriented”. I also listed problem-solving and organizational skills. Those attributes were not my natural talents; they were learned, beginning with my nursing education. You must be sure you are administering the correct medication. You must hand the correct instrument to the surgeon. In order to care for multiple patients on a hospital shift, you must be organized.

When I began to write, I utilized those same skills. It was a huge learning curve. Writing is not instinctive. Over centuries, published writing styles have changed right along with the changing societal mores. Charles Dickens’ writing style gives me a blood sugar spike. Hemingway’s less-is-better started a whole new diet of written words. But few writers make such tsunamis when they publish a book. Most of us write because we must. Because we have stories to share, or a memoir of all or a bit of our lives we want our family to read.

I learned about writing novels. Current trends in reader popularity. I had great helpers along the way, coaches and teachers and conference speakers. When my first manuscript was ready, I began the agent search. More to learn. Query letters, synopses, credentials. I was moving forward, made it to semi-finals and finalist in some contests. Had some exciting manuscript requests, and some bummer rejections. A lot of bummer rejections. I was still climbing the hill when a dear friend, who has 11 million books of her own in print, offered me a hand up to self-publish. Her peeps became my peeps. I formed my own tiny publishing company (another learning curve), worked with a book designer, David Seager, who is fabulous; an eBook converter, Diana Birdsell, who is also fabulous. My friend, Donna Green, the artist with all the published books, who runs a foundation for children with cancer, took time to do an extraordinary illustration for my cover.

My Amazon reviews are all good, even the ones from people I don’t know. No Hemingway or Dickens, just a writer who learned her skills and lucked out with a story people like.

Self-publishing is a huge job. There are years before it that are filled with learning, wins and losses, ups and downs. There are something like 8 million books on Amazon—the absolute best place to sell a book. But think of yourself as a grain of sand on a beach, not a sand sculpture. A star in the sky, not a super nova. It’s wonderful to see your book page on Amazon! The problem is there is no filter for books that are not ready to be published. The filtering that agents and editors do for publishers. So, how do you make your book stand out?

The stigma of self-publishing is way less than it used to be. But because many not-ready books are for sale, barriers exist for self-published writers. One I recently experienced is with our local weekly newspaper here on Cape Cod. They restrict all “author published” books. I get that.

Good News. The industry is still changing. A group of book bloggers are helping to sort the good from the bad. Some publishers offer self-publishing assist and may take on the writer if the book is good enough. Agents are working with self-published authors whose books stand out on Amazon.

Bottom line: Learn your skill. Work at it and don’t be impatient. Enter contests that give you reviews; query agents who may give you some advice or encouragement. Have fun! Go to conferences and yak with fellow writers. Keep learning and keep working.
I may be a wavelet and not a tsunami, but publishing my book is one of the best things I’ve ever accomplished. It’s amazing fun. I wish the same for all of the writers out there!

I came across a most interesting blog this morning. I had a wow reaction to it and would like to share it with you. Keep this in mind, being represented by an agent is my ultimate goal. Having self-published, and being ever so grateful for an opportunity to get my book out there, I have grown even more appreciative of the work an agent does on a writer’s behalf.
Some background on me. I’m a girly girl. Love make-up and ruffles. Still enjoy a man who holds a door open for me. An RN, worked in a female bastion—pardon to the wonderful male nurses out there in the new world of medicine. I began writing several years ago. A story-teller with women protagonists. I began by writing suspense novels. Women overcoming frightening, dangerous situations with their own intelligence and inner strength. I moved on to women’s fiction and just self-published the first novel, Missing Emily, in a three-book series.
This I did after going the agent query route, entering contests, doing pitch parties. Along the road I received many positive responses—my favorite from an agent’s reader: . . . could be a commercial success i.e.Jodi Picoult. So, I was close, but I wasn’t offered representation.
I am a member of the Women’s Fiction Writers Association. Today’s newsletter had a link to a blog: Homme de Plume: What I Learned Sending My Novel Out Under a Male Name by Catherine Nichols.
Here’s the link: http://jezebel.com/homme-de-plume-what-i-learned-sending-my-novel-out-und-1720637627
I’ll do a short summary in case you only want the gist. This young demonstrably excellent writer, in a bout of writer’s block, after sending out fifty queries to agents on a book she knew was good, wasn’t offered representation. Based on something Catherine read, she decided to do an experiment. She sent out fifty more queries–some overlapping agents she’d queried as herself–with the nom de plume, George Leyer. The results are surprising. She received nicer worded rejections, fast turnarounds, many more manuscript requests as George than she did as Catherine. An agent she’d queried and was rejected by as Catherine, requested the manuscript from George.
In her blog, Catherine gives an array of possible explanations for the phenomenon. She does in no way disparages agents. Catherine wonders if a female protagonist written by a male author holds more interest for an agent. Her small experiment is provocative to women who write. She suggests we might all use only our initials in the future when querying. Catherine is now represented by an agent based on a work of non-fiction (under her real name). Kudos to you, Catherine!
I am, at some point, going to publish my suspense novels. Do I have the courage to use only my initials or a male pseudonym? Wouldn’t an agent see right through my girly-girl writing? Worth a try?

I have one more item to add on the Media Page for my website media kit. What’s a media kit, you ask?
A media kit is a combination of photos and text documents that busy journalists or book bloggers may download. They may use them verbatim or as a base. They may pick and choose which items they will use.
As always, there is a plethora of information on the internet given freely to help writers market their books. Imagine what it was like before the internet. A day at the library searching current information and taking longhand notes. Or carrying home a load of books to research. Now, a few clicks and some well-posed questions, and you have answers, many of them. I usually copy info from two or more sources and pick and choose what seems the best for me. A beginner. A newbie.
Creating the website itself was a challenge. I did mine on Godaddy, and though I read negative reviews about their customer service, they have been terrific. If you don’t have a website, start there. It’s your business card.
On my Media Page at present you will find pictures of me. Self-promotion is personally difficult—it was a bit of a challenge. I also have buttons to click, one for a press release, one for a sell sheet. Feel free to check out my website, http://www.gerrileclerc.com. The last page is the Media Page. It has its own URL, that way, I can refer to it in my press release.
Now here’s what I need your HELP with. The last item for my Media Page is FAQ. It provides several questions and answers for a busy journalist or blogger or interviewer to use. Every time-saving item you can provide raises the chances one of those people who help you market will take you on.
If you visit the website, and there is a question that comes to your mind, will you let me know? You might have read Missing Emily, and have questions about the book. Or about my writing in general.
Thanks again to all of my follows on this blog!

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Missing Emily Reviews

"I was hooked by the first few pages and finished reading the first day. The story pulled me in and I went along for the ride."

"Missing Emily is a compelling, suspenseful read! I loved how LeClerc handled the different viewpoints of the two mothers. I wasn’t prepared to like both mothers but the author created such sympathetic characters it was impossible not to care about both women and their struggles to save their young daughters."

"Ms. LeClerc masterfully weaves an emotional, relatable and at times suspenseful story with well developed characters (including a cottage). The reader is taken on a vivid journey from the shores of Cape Cod to the streets of Boston."

"The story is compelling and complicated -- a perfect combination. The characters and their dilemma are unforgettable."